November 16, 2016

Malaysian Bar to appeal against dismissal of judicial review bid on AG’s powers

The Malaysian Bar will appeal the High Court’s decision to dismiss the Bar’s judicial review bid on the Attorney-General’s powers, its president Steven Thiru said today.

In a statement, Steven said that Bar has decided to appeal against the High Court ruling because it is a “significant case”, and also because no instrumentality of the government should be above the law.

On November 11, the High Court refused to grant leave for the judicial review proceedings on grounds that the AG’s actions, covered by Article 145 of the Federal Constitution, was “not justiciable” and thus cannot be reviewed by a court of law.

The Malaysian Bar had sought for the judicial review along with former de-facto law minister Datuk Zaid Ibrahim and former Umno leader Datuk Seri Khairuddin Abu Hassan, regarding A-G Tan Sri Apandi Ali’s decision on January 26 this year to close investigation on the RM 2.6 billion donation into Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s accounts and also not to prosecute Najib in the case.

“The Bar Council has decided to appeal against the decision of the High Court. This is a significant case, because it deals with the ambit of the prosecutorial powers of the Attorney General as Public Prosecutor, and the independence of a statutorily incorporated investigating body such as the MACC,” Steven said.

“The case also concerns the cardinal principle that no instrumentality of government is above the law, in a system founded on the rule of law,” he added.

Steven also said that it was “regrettable” that the High Court did not adequately consider the Malaysian Bar’s submission that the powers that purportedly exist for the A-G in Article 145 (3) of the Federal Constitution does not actually exist under the provision.